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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2018-9240

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2018-04-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 0.29 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
ncmpc through 0.29 is prone to a NULL pointer dereference flaw. If a user uses the chat screen and another client sends a long chat message, a crash and denial of service could occur.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

ncmpc through version 0.29 contains a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in its chat functionality. When a user has the chat screen open and receives a long chat message from another client, the application attempts to dereference a NULL pointer, causing a crash and denial of service.

MitigationUpgrade ncmpc to a version beyond 0.29. Until then, avoid using the chat screen with untrusted clients to prevent the crash trigger.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 16.04
NcmpcApplication
Affected:<= 0.29

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify ncmpc is installed
    Run 'ncmpc --version' or check your package manager for ncmpc installation status
    Affected if ncmpc is not installed - not affected; if installed, continue to version check
  2. Determine installed ncmpc version
    Run 'ncmpc --version' to obtain the exact version number
    Affected if Version is 0.29 or lower - potentially affected; versions higher than 0.29 are not affected by this CVE
  3. Confirm chat functionality is in use
    Check if ncmpc is configured to connect to an MPD server with chat-enabled clients, or inspect running ncmpc processes for chat screen access
    Affected if Chat functionality is actively used or accessible - the NULL dereference trigger requires the chat screen to be open when a long message arrives
  4. Verify operating system version
    Run 'cat /etc/os-release' or 'lsb_release -a' to check the OS version
    Affected if Running Debian 8.0 or Ubuntu 16.04 with ncmpc <= 0.29 - confirmed affected platform

You are affected if ncmpc version 0.29 or lower is installed and the chat screen is accessible while receiving long messages from other clients.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 0.29
Interim mitigation

Upgrade ncmpc to a version beyond 0.29. Until then, avoid using the chat screen with untrusted clients to prevent the crash trigger.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-9240 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data